69 Yenko Camaro

[StealthBird]

Just wanted to pass this along to anyone interested. We made a trip to the Volo Museum up here in northern Illinois last Saturday. The Volo Museum has over 250 cars indoors, and incredibly, they sell about 40 cars a month. I have seen some very rare Musclecars go through this place, including a 70 LS6 Chevelle convertible, a post coupe 69 SS396 Chevelle (with options it was 1 of 5 made), but have never seen a Yenko car in their museum.

So this trip I was shocked to see a gorgeous Lemans Blue 69 Yenko Camaro in their showroom, up on elevated ramps, with a fully detailed chassis Unfortunately, there were no placards on the window showing the price or history of the car (as Volo does with all other cars). Could even be a very well done clone Does anyone have any info on this car?

Volo's website at www.volocars.com, but they don't seem to show this Yenko (maybe they just received it?). Volo does, however, have their usual array of beautiful and rare Chevelles and Camaros.

[COPO]

I am going to Chicago on business next week and will try to get by Volo to check it out. The VINs for the 69 Yenko Camaros are known, so it would be tough to fake one. Volo has sold many rare cars, some more real than others, right Charley?

[Charley Lillard]

Ha !... Mike. Was the LS6 convert. that you saw there a Red one ? That one was a complete fake and they knew it, yet they still tried lie their way into getting me to buy it.

[StealthBird]

Charley, no, it was blue with white stripes, and this was about 3 or 4 years ago. I have a photo (although not a great one) that I took of the car at that time, and I can e-mail it to you if you like. I usually videotape cars at Volo, so I can get clear shots of the placards usually attached to the window, plus a walk around, but I did (for some reason) take a photo of that LS6.

Volo has had some rare cars go through their doors, and yes, some fakes. Volo's documentation is usually complete, but I sometimes think owners that want to "dump" their fake cars on someone, perhaps because their car is too well known among club members, local car shows, etc, seem to occasionally end up at Volo. But there ARE some very rare and documented cars that are sold through Volo, and I was really curious about this 69 Yenko. Unfortunately, it was up on an elevated platform, else I would have relayed the VIN to you guys.

But here's a funny one that I just couldn't believe....

They had an absolutely beautiful 1970 W-30 convertible there one time, dark green, and just flawless. The 1970 W-30 ragtop is one of the most sought after Oldsmobiles among Olds-heads and Musclecar collectors. It is also one of the most cloned cars around, and since Olds owners don't have a documentation service like Pontiac fans have, and no one has a list of W-30 serial numbers, they are often cloned.

So this 70 W-30 convertible at Volo has a placard in the window, lists all the options (there were a ton of them, including the W-27 aluminum rear end), but they had this concocted story about how the original owner, desiring a new 70 442 W-30 convertible in 1970, couldn't afford the insurance. So he ordered a 70 Cutlass convertible and had the delivering dealer convert it to a W-30 442. How funny is that?

I thought about that for a minute, and if the original owner DID order a 70 Cutlass, think how much a complete crate W-30 engine from the dealer, plus the body emblems, fiberglass Ram Air hood, suspension changes, rear end change, red plastic inner fenders, new paint job (to get the stripes on), etc would have cost the guy back in 1970, plus all the labor for the dealer to perform the work! If this story were true, the guy spent thousands and thousands of dollars in 1970 when he simply could have ordered a 70 W-30 convertible, and paid the extra insurance premium, and come out miles ahead. Imagine ordering a base Chevelle in 1970, then having a dealer turn it into an SS, then making it an LS6. Imagine the cost! Of course, this W-30 story was as fishy as they come, and I doubt anyone would buy it.

Translation: Someone spent a great deal of money converting a 70 Cutlass to a 70 W-30 442, and then later realized that they could not legally sell the car without being liable, so this "owner-had-it-done-in-1970" story was concocted and pushed through Volo. Of course, there was NO documentation or proof of any kind that a conversion was done in 1970 (gee, that would have nice to have!) The sad part is, the car sold for $26,995 the next week.

[sixtiesmuscle]

Don't rush to Volo to look at the "Yenko". It's pretty, especially with the vary rare white interior option. It's up on a pedestal for a reason, and I don't think it's so you can see the underside.

[COPO]

The only place I know online where the Yenko VIN's are available is www.copo.com The last 3 digits are not shown, but what is shown will eliminate LOTS of cars. There are a couple of folks that frequent this site that have all or most of the VIN's perhaps in the future they could be posted here. Regardless, these Yenko enthusiasts have been EXTREMELY helpful to me.

[Peter]

COPO, I don't want to open a can of worms here but you mention that the 69 Yenko Camaro vin's are known so it would be hard to fake. I agree its hard to fake if the numbers are known like the ZL1's. However the ZL1 vin listing is everywhere while I have never seen a listing of the Yenko vins. Is this a public listing? If the vin numbers are known and they were public I would think it would help keep the fakes down rather than a select few people with a listing. I am talking just vin numbers, not body tags or anything else. Is this listing available to the public? The ZL1's have been forever and I don't think anybody tried to make a fake using a legit vin that they got from the internet, although a ZL1 is harder to duplicate.